Cited by 52Resilience and Mental HealthChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentGenetic Associations and Epidemiology

The relationship between genetic and environmental influences on resilience and on common internalizing and externalizing psychiatric disorders

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Amstadter, Ananda B., Maes, Hermine H., Sheerin, Christina M., Myers, John M., Kendler, Kenneth S.·2016·Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology

Abstract

Purpose Resilience to stressful life events (SLEs), which increase risk of psychopathology, is influenced by genetic factors. The purpose of this paper was to map the overlap of etiologic risk factors for resilience onto the broad psychopathological map. Resilience was defined as the difference between the twins' total score on a broad measure of internalizing symptoms and their predicted score based on their cumulative exposure to SLEs.Methods Cholesky decompositions were performed with OpenMx to quantify the overlap in genetic and environmental risk factors between resilience and four phenotypes [major depression (MD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), alcohol abuse or dependence (AAD), and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD)].Results The genetic factors that influence resilience account for 42 and 61 % of the heritability of MD and GAD, respectively, and 20 and 18 % for AAD and ASPD, respectively. The latent genetic contribution to MD was shared 47 % with resilience, and for AAD, this estimate was lower (23 %). The shared environmental covariance was nominal.Conclusions Genetic influences on resilience contribute to internalizing phenotypes to a higher degree than to externalizing phenotypes. Environmental influences can also have an enduring effect on resilience. However, virtually all of the covariance between resilience and the phenotypes was genetic.

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  • The heritability of resilience is low to moderate, varying in research reports from 25% to 60%.

    “Similarly, the heritability of resilience is low to moderate, varying in research reports from 25% to 60% (32–34).”

    From Epigenetic Modifications in Stress Response Genes Associated With Childhood Trauma (2019) · cites this paper as [33]

    The Introduction (page unavailable) describes resilience heritability as modest to moderate, reporting approximately 31% in univariate models and 50% in a model accounting for measurement error. It does not establish the claimed 25%–60% range across research reports. The 61% in the Abstract concerns the share of GAD heritability associated with resilience, not the heritability of resilience itself. (LLM, conf=0.85)

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Authors
Amstadter, A. B., Maes, H. H., Sheerin, C. M., Myers, J. M., & Kendler, K. S.
Affiliations
Virginia Commonwealth University (US)
Corresponding author
Amstadter, Ananda B.
Venue
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Published
2015-12-21
Volume
51
Issue
5
Pages
669-678
ISSN
  • 0933-7954 (ISSN-L)
  • 1433-9285
OpenAlex
W2210786332
Cited by
52
References
29
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 3 · 2013: 1
FWCI
4.55
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA023239)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Resilience and Mental Health
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
Keywords
resilience, life events, genetic risk factors, environmental risk factors, internalizing disorders, externalizing disorders, major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, alcohol abuse and dependence, antisocial personality disorder, heritability, Cholesky decomposition, twin studies
MeSH terms
Adult, Alcoholism, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Anxiety Disorders, Major Depressive Disorder, Diseases in Twins, Female, Humans, Internal-External Control, Life Change Events, Male, Middle Aged, Phenotype, Psychopathology, Surveys and Questionnaires, Social Environment, Statistics as Topic, Virginia, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Resilience, Psychological

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